


Sunburns and Scars

by WildWolf25



Series: Percico Angst and Fluff Month 2020 (weeks 1 & 4) [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Percico Angst & Fluff Month 2020, Scars, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Sunburn, The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus) Spoilers, a smidge of angst memories but mostly fluff, mostly canonverse with some alterations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25701610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildWolf25/pseuds/WildWolf25
Summary: “Hey,” Percy spoke up, his voice careful. “How did you get these scars?”Nico opened his eyes. He could feel Percy’s fingers tracing around the healed scars on his forearms, careful not to touch them directly.“I’ve noticed them before,” Percy went on, his words coming slowly, as if he was carefully choosing them before speaking them aloud. “You don’t take your jacket off a lot, but I noticed them when you did… I just never felt like it was alright to ask about them…” he trailed off, but Nico understood. They were alone now, with no demigods or mortals or even nosy dryads around to eavesdrop. “Are they from…? Did… Did you…?”“I didn’t do them,” Nico said quickly. They were jagged and uneven, and only a few extended to near his wrist, but he could understand the worry. “It was Lycaon. In Portugal, when we were bringing the Athena Parthenos to Camp.”(After a day at the beach, Nico gets sunburnt. Percy notices his scars while helping him put aloe on the sunburn)(Written for Percico Angst and Fluff Month 2020)
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Series: Percico Angst and Fluff Month 2020 (weeks 1 & 4) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863970
Comments: 9
Kudos: 203
Collections: Percico Angst and Fluff Month 2020





	Sunburns and Scars

**Author's Note:**

> OH THE IRONY THAT I GOT SUNBURNT THE FIRST WEEK OF THIS EVENT (I wrote this a month in advance of the event, but still, kinda funny)
> 
> I will be posting two of the four weeks (weeks 1 and 4) on this account and the other two (weeks 2 and 3) on my NSFW account (bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies on AO3, bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies25 on tumblr, but **please DO NOT follow those accounts if you are under 18**.)
> 
> Week 1 prompts were: Sunburn ｜"How did you get that scar?"｜Soulmate marks
> 
> (this is mostly canonverse but with soulmate identifying marks that appear on your soulmates favorite part of your body. Spoilers for Blood of Olympus)

“I don’t understand,” Percy sighed, shaking his head. “We slathered you in  _ SPF  _ **_seventy_ ** . We were only out in the sun for two hours. You’re  _ Italian _ , not, like, Swedish or something. You should have just gotten a light tan, if anything. Not ended up looking like a lobster.”

“I think Apollo hates me since I critiqued his acting skills in the Camp orientation film,” Nico grumbled into the couch cushions. He let out a hiss and flinched as Percy’s hands made contact with his back, then relaxed with as sigh as the cool aloe was spread over his fried skin. 

It was supposed to be a fun day at the beach, and it really had been. Nico hadn’t thought he would  _ enjoy  _ being in the bright sun and feeling the sand between his toes, but the nice weather and sun had gradually warmed his attitude toward the activity. He had even let Percy coax him into the water for a bit, under the strict stipulation that the son of Poseidon not let go of his hands for a single second. Percy hadn’t had a problem with that, even when Nico crushed his fingers in an iron grip at every slightly-bigger-than-average wave that Nico was convinced was sent to sweep him out to sea. And then after their short swim, Nico had largely been in the shade of the umbrella while he dried off, reading a book and idly watching Percy swim around (he could better appreciate the sight of his boyfriend dripping wet from a distance, when he wasn’t feeling like a drenched cat himself). It was only when they packed up their towels and headed back into their rented beach house that they realized just how toasted Nico had gotten. 

Percy’s hands, slippery with aloe, skimmed cool trails down Nico’s back and made him shiver pleasantly. Nico felt a finger trace a circle around the base of his spine, just above the top of his swim trunks, where he knew there was a tattoo-like mark. At a quick glance, it didn’t look like much more than a vaguely circular marking made up of organic lines and swirling patterns. It took a closer look to make out the shape of a skull with waves washing over it, around it, flowing through the eye and nose sockets; a seamless blend of water and skull in the design, and a perfect copy of the mark Percy had on his left bicep (Nico was a simple man, weak for strong arms, so sue him).

Nico rolled his eyes but didn’t bother trying to turn his head to look over his shoulder, as it would only hurt the burn spread over his shoulders. “That part didn’t get burnt,” he pointed out. 

“I know,” Percy rubbed a thumb over the mark. “I just like seeing it.”

“Of course you do; it’s on your favorite part of my body,” Nico snorted. “Still can’t believe my soulmate mark is a gods-damned tramp stamp. You frat boy.”

“Hey, I resent that,” Percy feigned offense, his voice still bright. “Not my fault I’m weak to your cute little back-dimples. I like your cheek dimples too, so just be glad my mark wasn’t plastered all over your face.” 

Marks appearing on the face wasn’t unheard of, but it was pretty rare. His half-sister Hazel had been disappointed at her apparent lack of soulmate mark for years, until a closer look at the small, dark ‘freckle’ in her golden irises revealed it was a miniature copy of the mark between Frank’s shoulder blades, a wolf head surrounded by the shape of a gemstone. Leo’s mark was a mechanical-looking vine wrapped around the shell of his ear despite Calypso vehemently insisting that they were ‘dorky’ and stuck out funny (hers was wrapped around her slender wrist like a bracelet, despite a rumor started by Leo himself that hers was ‘under her shirt’)

“Are you going help me put aloe on the rest of my burns, or are you just going to keep fingering my back?” Nico asked.

Said fingers pinched the small of his back in retaliation. “So impatient, and naughty. See if I help you.” Despite his words, Percy reached for the green tube of aloe vera and squirted more into his palm. He moved back up to his shoulders and started spreading the soothing gel along the burnt backs of his arms. Nico closed his eyes, content to just lay there and let Percy take care of him (after all, it was  _ his  _ fault they spent the day at the beach).

“Hey,” Percy spoke up, his voice careful. “How did you get these scars?” 

Nico opened his eyes. He could feel Percy’s fingers tracing around the healed scars on his forearms, careful not to touch them directly. 

“I’ve noticed them before,” Percy went on, his words coming slowly, as if he was carefully choosing them before speaking them aloud. “You don’t take your jacket off a lot, but I noticed them when you did… I just never felt like it was alright to ask about them…” he trailed off, but Nico understood. They were alone now, with no demigods or mortals or even nosy dryads around to eavesdrop. “Are they from…? Did… Did you…?”

“I didn’t do them,” Nico said quickly. They were jagged and uneven, and only a few extended to near his wrist, but he could understand the worry. “It was Lycaon. In Portugal, when we were bringing the Athena Parthenos to Camp.”

“Lycaon… Wait, did he…?”

“He didn’t bite me,” Nico said, trying to push away the memory of deadly wolf fangs stopping just inches from his face, foul breath making his stomach turn as he pushed the silver pocket knife into the wolf king’s ribs. “Scratched the hell out of me though. And wolf scratches heal slowly and burn like acid. Reyna had to stitch me up on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic, since I couldn’t get us across in one jump.” The last few words dripped out of him like a bitter bile, his disappointment obvious. 

“I don’t think  _ anyone  _ could shadow-travel all the way across the ocean,” Percy said, trying to reassure him. 

“It doesn’t matter if anyone  _ could _ ,” Nico muttered darkly. “I  _ had to _ . And I  _ failed. _ ” 

“No,” Percy said firmly, taking his hand. “You didn’t fail, Nico. You got the statue to Camp. We would have never been able to win without you.” 

“I should have gotten it there sooner,” Nico said. “I slept for thirty-six fucking hours in Portugal. That’s what let Lycaon catch up to us, and what wasted our time when everyone at Camp was under siege.  _ That’s  _ why I failed.”

“When I lost my memories and spent months running all over the West Coast, do you think I was ‘wasting time’?” Percy asked him. “Did I fail, because I took so long to find Camp Jupiter, and even longer to get back to Camp Half-Blood?”

The abrupt change in topic startled Nico out of his dark thoughts. “Of course not. Hera took your memories. That wasn’t your fault. And you got there in the end.”

“Then what happened with the Athena Parthenos wasn’t your fault, either,” Percy told him. One of his hands slid up to gently brush a thumb along one of the scars. “You were forced to take on an unimaginably difficult task, a burden that no one should have to bear, and you did all you could and you made it in the end. That’s not failure, Nico.”

Nico bit his lip as he turned the words over in his mind. He… supposed Percy had a point. It was still a hard thing to realize through all the guilt that had been eating away at him, though.

“Hey,” Percy squeezed his hand. “Can I hug you?”

A huff escaped him like a ghost of a laugh. “You’re already sitting on my ass, I don’t think you need to ask.” But he appreciated that Percy always did ask, before touching him. Nico was still trying to get over his aversion to being touched. He didn’t mind quite so much when it was Percy, though.

“Better safe than sorry,” Percy said. “So…?” 

A flicker of a smile touched his lips. “Yeah, you can try. I’m not getting up, though.” Every movement pulled at his burned skin and hurt; just laying down had been a painful ordeal that he had needed help to accomplish.

“I’ll make do,” Percy said, sounding unbothered. He leaned down and wiggled his arms under Nico’s stomach to hug him, but had to be careful not to touch the sunburn painting his back. It was probably the weirdest-looking hug in the history of hugging, but it made Nico feel warm all the same. 

“I love you, Neeks,” Percy murmured, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck. Nico hissed and flinched at the contact as the burn on the back of his neck flared up, angry-hot and painful. “Oops. Sorry,” Percy apologized.

“I’m never going outside again…” Nico grumbled.

“Don’t say that.” Percy sounded genuinely worried at that prospect. “How about a cool bath?”

“The fact that you make that sound appealing is ridiculous…” Nico muttered. Baths shouldn’t  _ be  _ cool, they should be  _ warm _ … but that did sound nice, given that his skin felt like it was on fire. 

“A cool bath with me?” Percy added hopefully, his hands slipping down to Nico’s waist and thumbs rubbing circles on either side of his soulmate mark. 

“Fine,” Nico huffed, hiding his smile in the couch cushions. Maybe the day wasn’t a complete loss after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and please let me know if you liked it! I'm also on tumblr as [gold-leeaf](https://gold-leeaf.tumblr.com) as well.
> 
> Again, I will be posting half of my works for this event here, and half on my other account.


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